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Home » Recipes » Sides » How to Make Homemade Flour Tortillas

How to Make Homemade Flour Tortillas

Published: Mar 16, 2017 · Modified: Sep 28, 2021

Stack of Flour Tortillas
Flour tortillas take practice to make, but are worth the effort.

Practice Makes Perfect

I have only one thing to say about flour tortillas: practice. Getting the dough part right is not too hard. Below is the classic flour tortilla recipe, measured in kilos. I converted it to cups for you, but to get consistent results, I would do it a la Mexicana and weigh the ingredients on a scale.

The hardest thing about flour tortillas is to get a round tortilla. Flour tortillas are rolled out with a rolling pin, not pressed with a tortilla press. The thinner the tortilla gets, the more difficult it becomes to control its shape. The goal is to achieve whisper thin tortillas that are a complete 360° circle.

Frankly, the fact that you have undertaken the project of making homemade flour tortillas is admirable enough to outweigh any misshapen results. Make a game of it. Ask the kids what they imagine the shape of the tortilla to be, like looking for images in the clouds. You never know what you will see (Look Mom! It’s Elvis!).

Floured board with rolled out flour tortilla

Handmade flour tortillas are exquisite!

 

The 3 Secrets: Extra flour for the surface, extra practice roll round tortillas, and extra time for dough relaxation

The most super secret tip for making round flour tortillas  is to let the dough relax for a couple of hours either in the fridge or at room temperature after the dough is well combined. Our recipe instructs you to allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes, but that is a minimum amount of time. If you can, leave the dough in the fridge overnight covered, so it does not develop a crust on the surface of the dough. You will be surprised how easily it rolls out the next day. Also, use a little extra flour on your rolling surface, so your dough doesn’t stick.

 

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How to Make Homemade Flour Tortillas

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews

  • Yield: 40 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 2lbs. flour (about 7 cups) (1kg)
  • 2 tsp. baking powder (8gr)
  • 1 tbsp. salt (4gr)
  • 1 1/3 vegetable shortening (250gr)
  • 2 cups hot water (480ml)

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt. and shortening. Knead well with your hands. Add in the water a little at a time until you have a smooth dough.
  2. Knead the dough for about 90 seconds, until elastic.
  3. Form the dough into 40 small patties. Return the patties to the mixing bowl, and allow to rest for 20 minutes. Heat up your griddle.
  4. With a rolling pin, roll out the patties into tortillas, as thin and round as possible (this takes a lot of practice!).
  5. Place tortilla on the hot griddle. Flip tortilla to cook on the other side after 45 seconds. Flip again after 45 seconds. Flip one more time. The tortilla should puff up.
  6. Take tortilla off the griddle after 20 seconds and place in a clean towel to keep warm. Continue with the remaining dough.

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Filed Under: Sides, Take Alongs, Tortillas and Breads Tagged With: Recipe, tortillas

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Comments

  1. Yolanda Cessna

    May 19, 2018 at 4:44 pm

    I haven’t tried the recipe yet but i recognized the amounts and ingredients from watching my mom make the most delicious weightless flour tlrtillas ever from scratch with no recipe to go by.
    I’ve tried to replicate her tortillas but couldn’t quite get the quantities down pact.
    I believe you hit on it and I will try it very soon. Thank you.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Melissa Guerra

      May 23, 2018 at 7:47 am

      Thank you so much for your email! The trick is to let the dough sit there at least an hour, or even over night. It makes all the difference. xoxo

      Reply
  2. David garcia

    November 16, 2018 at 11:47 am

    I never did make tortillas dough ,because i didn’t know the ingredients to use. But i will try it soon.. My mom use to make them fresh and i would always have one with butter..and cup of coffee

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Melissa Guerra

      November 16, 2018 at 8:53 pm

      The trick is to let the dough rest before you try rolling them out. Even leaving the dough in the fridge overnight makes them easier to roll into a perfect circle. Best wishes!!

      Reply
  3. Dee Sanchez

    April 28, 2020 at 7:43 am

    Great recipe! A small edit. ‘cup’ after the shortening. I made hummus as a side last night for family dinner but couldn’t go to the grocery for pita so I made tortillas instead. The family called them, ‘torpitas’.

    Reply
    • Melissa Guerra

      April 28, 2020 at 3:07 pm

      Thanks for catching that I will fix! ‘torpitas is a clever substitution!😂 Hugs!

      Reply

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Melissa Guerra is an 8th generation Texan, born and raised on a working cattle ranch in South Texas. She is a self taught culinary expert and food historian, specializing in the food ways of the American continent, especially Texas regional, Mexican, and Latin American cuisine. Read More…

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